Electricity Sector is A Successful Financial Investment for ISIS Group

Abdalaziz Alhamza – Execlusive – Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently

The electricity sector suffered in the Syrian Raqqa city like the rest of the service sectors from the theft of vehicles and spare parts and stop the maintenance of electrical network, because of the difficulty of providing such equipment any malfunction at electrical grids or transfer stations may become a disaster.

The staff of electricity sector still offered great efforts according to the available possibilities, note that Assad’s regime suspended paying the salaries of most of these workers, where maintenance workers in the electricity directorate were enable to repair the damage caused by the bombing of regime over the transfer station in “Alforoseyah” area in April 15, 2013 within a few days.

ISIS which seized the province since the beginning of 2014, began managing the electricity issue in the city, where they appointed the “Emir of electricity” and new staff, but the group has adopted the criterion of “loyalty” in these appointments rather than competence.

Euphrates Dam:

ISIS stressed its security grip on the dam significantly, making the talk with workers of the dam is very difficult as a result of fear of punishment of the group, but a reporter from “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” was able to communicate with one of the technicians working at the dam who said on condition of anonymity: “the production of electrical energy from the dam up to 1000 MW, this amount can meet the need of the entire north-east areas in addition to a part of the central region of Syria.

Each of the provinces of Hasaka and Deir al-Zour depended on the dam essentially in providing electricity, eastern countryside of Aleppo can be linked to the thermal station of Aleppo. In Raqqa, the electricity situation and rationing of up to 22 hours a day is not justified from a technical point, because the entire need of the province no more than 120 MW at maximum peak times. ”

He added: “The indiscriminate and corruption in dam management and lack of attention for lake tributaries from the correct technical point, and drawing canals from the lake to irrigate the lands of the state property dominated by some of powerful persons in the group, these factors have led to low water levels in the dam, causing a negative impact on power generation, but the proportion of this impact does not exceed 20%, which means that the dam is still producing up to 75 or 80% of its production capacity. ”

Where does electricity go?

“Imad” one of the workers in the electricity directorate says: “I do not know, ask the Emir of electricity (Abu Abdullah al-Masri), but I think that the improvement of electricity situation in the cities of Hasaka and Hama which are under the control of the regime, is supposed to answer your inquiry, where daily rationing has decreased in Hasaka from 17 hours into only two hours.”

Thermal Station of Aleppo :

Thermal station is subjected to the authority of ISIS group, it was out of service for a long time until the completion of the agreement to restart it after negotiations with the regime. The agreement has ensured that the regime will receive 40% and ISIS 60% of station production, but the electricity situation in the regions under the control of the group has not improved despite the availability of electricity, because the group sold its stake from the station to the regime again, which means that the electricity generated by thermal station of Aleppo goes entirely to the Syrian regime!

Local Generators:

People of Raqqa depend on large diesel generators to provide electricity, these generators placed in every neighborhood by an investor who pays taxes for the group to run it. The cost of 1 amp from local generators is 400 Syrian pounds per week , the normal house needs to 5 amp equivalent to 8,000 Syrian pounds per month, for a service run no more than 9 hours per day. the citizens as well as material cost suffered from the risk of burning or exploding these generators, especially with the absence of any measures for the safe, in addition to noise and gases emitted from them.

Investment:

ISIS recently noticed the importance of the electricity sector, where they found that local generators are a beneficial investment and a new source for funding, where they reap huge amounts of money from taxes imposed on investors, and the marketing of oil which comes from the oilfields of Deir al-Zour. ISIS also announced that it was going to run larger generators and at a lower price, it intends to sell 5 amp of electricity at a price of 6000 Syrian pounds per month !